SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY SERAGLIO. 



197 



pretender bad effected a landing in Scotland, in 

 1715. After a spirited debate, the bill passed in 

 the house of lords by a majority of thirty-five 

 votes; but thirty members signed a protest against 

 it, on the ground that the triennial election com- 

 ported with the spirit of the constitution, whereas 

 a longer term would unduly restrict the electoral 

 franchise, while corruption would become more 

 frequent, and elections more expensive. In the 

 house of commons, the bill was opposed with still 

 more warmth ; but after forty persons had spoken 

 for and against it, it was passed by the house, 264 

 against 121. It deserves notice that the bill was 

 advocated and carried by the whigs, notwithstanding 

 the opposition of the tories. The former probably 

 viewed it as a protection for the new dynasty 

 against the house of Stuart, and as the most effec- 

 tual means to exterminate Popery and Jesuitism, 

 and to establish the superiority of Protestantism. 

 In 1734, a new controversy arose about this act in 

 the house of commons. The tories and the Jaco- 

 bites (friends of the house of Stuart) proposed, in 

 the lower house, to repeal it, and even some whigs 

 were in favour of so doing ; among them the cele- 

 brated Pulteney, the most zealous advocate of the 

 bill in 1716. The two parties, however, were 

 principally actuated by the desire of power. Lord 

 Bolingbroke wished to put down the minister Wai- 

 pole. Walpole, however, triumphed by a majority 

 of 247 votes against 184, and Bolingbroke retired 

 to France. But the opinion that the long duration 

 of the house of commons is injurious to the freedom 

 of elections, and favourable to every kind of cor- 

 ruption, has always prevailed in England. Pitt 

 himself, when he advocated parliamentary reform 

 in the session of May 7, 1783, called the Septen- 

 nial election one of the greatest defects in the 

 system of popular representation. His bill to 

 restore triennial elections, in which he was sup- 

 ported by Fox, was rejected by a majority of only 

 eleven. In 1824, the same subject was broached 

 by celebrated statesmen in the French chambers. 

 The French constitution of 1791 required an entirely 

 new election; that of 1795, an election of a third 

 part of the members; and that of 1799, the election 

 of a fifth every year. The last regulation was 

 retained in the charter of 1814, and the age 

 required for every voter was thirty years, and for 

 every representative forty. April 5, 1824, count 

 de Corbiere, the minister of the interior, proposed, 

 in the house of peers, that the whole chamber of 

 deputies should be chosen at once, and that a new 

 election should take place every seven years. The 

 most distinguished speakers, in both chambers, 

 viewed the proposed measure as a violation of an 

 essential part of the charter. Its advocates main- 

 tained that it would prove a means of promoting 

 public peace, by diminishing the occasions of public 

 excitement, of producing a greater uniformity in 

 the transactions of business, and of enabling the 

 legislators, by means of their prolonged experience, 

 to make better laws. The bill passed the chamber 

 of deputies June 8, 292 to 87. and was confirmed 

 by the king on the 9th. 



SEPTUAGESIMA SUNDAY, the third Sun- 

 day before Lent, is supposed to take its name from 

 its being about seventy days before Easter (septua- 

 gesimus, seventieth). 



SEPTUAGINT, THE SEVENTY, or LXX; 

 the Greek version of the Old Testament, which, 

 according to the story of Aristaeus, whom Josephus 

 follows in his Jewish Antiquities, was made on the 



island of Pharos, near Egypt, by seventy-two learned 

 Jews (whence the name Septuaginta, seventy), by 

 command of Ptolemy Philadelphia, king of Egypt. 

 The story further states, that although the trans- 

 lators were separated from each other, yet, through 

 the operation of divine inspiration, their versions 

 were, word for word, the same. This version is 

 also called the Alexandrian, because it is said to 

 have been prepared at Alexandria. (See Alexan- 

 drian Copy.) We probably owe it to some Alex- 

 andrian Jews, who, having lost the knowledge of 

 the Hebrew, caused this translation to be made by 

 some of their learned countrymen, for the use of 

 the synagogues, about 285 B. C. At first, only 

 the Pentateuch was translated; and the version of 

 the remaining books of the Old Testament was 

 accomplished gradually. 



SEPULCHRE, HOLY. See Palestine. 



SEPULTURE. See Burial, Burying Places, 

 and Cemetry. 



SEQUESTRATION; the act of separating a 

 thing in controversy from the possession of both 

 parties, till the right is determined by course of 

 law. It is either voluntary or necessary: volun- 

 tary when it is done by consent of the parties, and 

 necessary when it takes place by order of the 

 official authority. The thing sequestered (seques- 

 trum') cannot be claimed by either party till the 

 dispute is decided. Persons may, in some cases, 

 be sequestered, as well as things. 



SERAGLIO, properly SERAI (q. v.); the 

 palace of the Turkish sultan in Constantinople. 

 It stands in a beautiful situation, on a point of 

 land projecting into the sea. (See Constantinople.) 

 Its walls embrace a circuit of about nine miles, 

 including several mosques, spacious gardens, and 

 buildings capable of accommodating 20,000 men, 

 though the number of the sultan's household does 

 not amount to above 10,000, including gardeners 

 and menials. From the sea, it makes a fine ap- 

 pearance; but from the land side, the domes, the 

 gilded cupolas, &c., are concealed by the thick and 

 gloomy walls ; and on passing by the great gate, 

 the spectator is shocked by the sight of the heads 

 of recently executed victims. The harem is the 

 part of the seraglio occupied by the women of the 

 sultan. (See Harem.) The principal gate of the 

 seraglio is called Babi Humayum (Sublime Porte). 

 The sultan is served by the itch' oglans (pages), 

 called also itch' agassys, who are Asiatics of humble 

 origin, and are divided into four chambers, according 

 to their rank and service. The fourth and last of 

 these chambers is called the khasne odasshy (trea- 

 sury). The pages of this chamber are under the 

 direction of the kislar ago, and are intrusted with 

 the care of the treasures. It has been supposed 

 that the seraglio contained treasures of great value. 

 The sultans piqued themselves upon leaving large 

 sums in the treasury. Whatever, therefore, the 

 sovereign could collect during his life, was shut up 

 at his death in his khasne chamber, with an inscrip- 

 tion in letters of gold, This is the treasure of the 

 sultan A. B., which was never touched except in 

 extreme cases. The mutes of the seraglio, about 

 forty in number, are the court fools: they were 

 formerly obliged to perform all the capital execu- 

 tions in the empire. The dwarfs are also subjects 

 of mirth at court, and are often used as footstools 

 for the sultan to mount his horse. The capidgi- 

 baschis (see Capi Ago) are the door-keepers of the 

 seraglio; and the bostangi (q. v.), a numerous corps 

 who serve in the interior of the seraglio. We may 



